Aptive Environmental replaced abstract competency language with measurable behaviors in its 2025 mid-year review cycle — and within weeks of the July launch, three of the 64 employees in the pilot group earned promotions.

The pest control services company tested its Capability Framework on its HR department, rebuilding performance reviews and development plans around eight defined capabilities. For HR leaders, the pilot offers a working template for one of the most persistent complaints about competency models: employees rarely understand how to demonstrate skills such as "strategic thinking" in daily work, and managers apply inconsistent standards across departments and management chains.

Aptive built the framework on four core principles — Commit, Hone, Elevate and Exceed — and translated them into eight capabilities the company most wants to develop: Analysis & Data Literacy; Change Management & Readiness; Strategy & Innovation; Positional Excellence; Team Building & Collaboration; Emotional Intelligence & Decision-Making; Ownership & Building Trust; and Communication & Follow-Through.

The design addresses a structural challenge for multi-state employers. Aptive operates across many states, departments and management chains, with vast differences between roles. The framework provides a company-wide standard structure for tracking and projecting employee growth while remaining flexible enough to adapt to those role differences.

How the behaviors scale

Each capability defines behaviors at three hierarchical tiers — Individual Contributor, Supervisor/Manager and Director — creating a progression of skill development that employees can trace. The behaviors described in Ownership & Building Trust at the Individual Contributor level expand at the Supervisor/Manager level and deepen further at the Director level.

That scaling matters for career-pathing decisions. Proficiency in one or more capabilities now serves as a guide for promotions and other career progressions at Aptive, and participant goals and milestones are built into all future mid-year and year-end reviews.

Rollout mechanics

Aptive implemented the framework during the 2025 mid-year review. The 64 HR employees received updated reviews incorporating the new model. The company ran two 90-minute sessions explaining and demonstrating the framework — one for Utah-based employees, one for remote workers — where participants practiced applying the model, asked questions and previewed upcoming changes.

Supporting resources included three in-house recorded videos on the framework's structure and application, an internal website hosting videos, documentation, diagrams and examples, three job aids comparing capabilities and their behaviors, a manager job aid for mid-year talent calibration, a participant workbook, and a branded facilitator slide deck.

Aptive also edited the mid-year review in Workday, adding two questions. The first asked employees which two capabilities they most actively developed or demonstrated over the prior six months, with specific examples. The second asked them to choose one behavior to strengthen over the next six months and describe what that development would look like day to day.

Participants had three weeks after the training sessions to complete their reviews, with ongoing access to the framework website. They then reviewed their responses with direct supervisors to clarify questions and set next steps.

Questions for employers considering a similar model

The pilot's small sample — 64 employees in a single department over one review cycle — limits what the results prove. Three promotions out of 64 represents roughly a 5% promotion rate in the months after launch, but Aptive did not report a baseline comparison or engagement metrics.

HR leaders evaluating a similar approach will want to weigh several adoption questions: whether the investment in tiered behavioral definitions across eight capabilities justifies the calibration effort; whether two 90-minute sessions plus self-serve resources suffice to align manager expectations; and whether the framework holds up outside a single function. The company has not announced plans to expand the framework beyond the HR department.

What the pilot does demonstrate is a repeatable rollout sequence: defined behaviors first, manager calibration aids second, review-system integration third, and supervisor conversations to close the loop — with the framework now embedded in every future review cycle at the company.